Paul Fairclough, the Barnet manager, has received more publicity for his idea of showing more respect to referees this time from the Sunday Telegraph.
Fairclough's ideas have put more pressure on the FA who planned to introduce an identical pilot scheme from next January. In essence Fairclough wants a rule that only allows the captain to question any decision of the referee.
The FA are concerned that it is becoming increasingly difficult to find enough people willing to become referees and need to ensure that referees are shown more respect by both players and managers.
Since introducing the idea Barnet have gone eight games unbeaten and only had one player booked.
"It was entirely the players' initiative after those three red cards (One of those was against Hereford United-ed). None of the sendings-off were justified, but we needed to do something," said Fairclough.
"Everyone agreed our discipline record was poor and the players were fed up. I believe in problem solving and challenged them to come up with a solution. It has allowed them to focus on their own performances as opposed to arguing with the opposition and the officials."
The FA are watching the situation but chief excutive Brian Barwick hasn't yet watched Barnet since the new idea was introduced.
"I don't care what anyone says, referees are human and will get you back. Every referee knows I am right. If you continually harass and pester a ref, he will get his own back at some stage," added Fairclough.
Barnet drew with Mansfield yesterday with Sagi Burton acting as captain in the absence of Ismail Yakubu who was injured.
"We have played superbly in the last few weeks. The players again showed commendable restraint. If we had got involved with some of the things that went on, we may well have lost," commented Fairclough.
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